Education, research and community service are the three main pillars of tertiary education (Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi) in Indonesia. Educating prospective business leaders is a huge challenge because the business world is ever dynamic and always changing. Technology, the business innovation driver, has also changed business practices. The era of big data, Internet of Things, and many-to- many communication make decision-making more complex, therefore requiring a comprehensive approach. Previously, determinant multivariables in the decision making process changed slowly, but now sudden drastic changes happen. The volume, velocity, variety and veracity of data are increasing, followed by the changes of technology. To go along with the prerequisite skill sets, decision makers now require an understanding of all business processes.

Three Research Foci

As a business school, IPMI, is expected to conduct research, not only to fulfil its obligation as a higher institution of learning, but also to fulfil the expectation of the business society, its major stakeholder.

One key purpose of business research is to help top decision makers make the right decision in strategic planning, program and execution. To do so, business and research have to support each other because, in this era of technology, the development of business is dependent on a strong science of management. Without such cooperation, growth will be linear. With strong collaboration, there can be a quantum leap in business development. Business schools such as IPMI are the bridge between science and practical knowledge.

Currently, IPMI has a strong position in business education in Indonesia, with a national and international network and a large alumni base of executives. There are three levels of research that IPMI will conduct. These are government, corporation and community. At the government level, LPPM IPMI will focus on researching the management of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) due to its high contribution to the Indonesian economy.

SOEs are required to be profit making but at the same time to be agents of development. In addition, politics and government intervention are endemic, despite the codes of corporate governance in operation. LPPM IPMI, with its research on the management of SOEs, expects to encourage them to be world-class companies.

At the corporate level, research in IPMI will focus on competitiveness. It was chosen because the competitiveness is the core of corporate management, with productivity as one of its measurements This corporate competitiveness issue is at the local, regional and global level. In this context, IPMI is collaborating with Harvard Business School in the study of micro competitiveness. Such international level research development is expected to be transferred to the business sectors in Indonesia. In a highly competitive world, competition is not only at the local level but extends to global markets as well. Competition is not only about winning markets but also about attracting the best global talent.

According to BPS (www.bps.go.id), the population of Indonesia was approximately 259 million in 2015. Despite this huge number, the level of competitiveness of Indonesian talent is still lower than other developed countries and a number of developing countries. Therefore, Indonesia should prepare their potential talent to be more competitive than other countries, particularly in specific areas. For instance, Indonesian students who graduate from the best universities in the world have little interest in returning considering the higher remuneration, incentives and opportunities abroad. LPPM IPMI wants to contribute research on corporate competitiveness and provide solutions that can be executed to increase competitiveness.

At the society level, IPMI will conduct research on entrepreneurship. Indonesia is still predominantly an agrarian nation and society. Today, only 15 people out of 1000 have their own businesses. Of those, a large proportion will not survive. Research has shown that one of the key failure factors is that founders of businesses have insufficient knowledge of management practices. IPMI will contribute research that will increase the number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia and reduce start-up failures.

Community Development: One Village One Corporate (OVOC)

In community development, IPMI will be involved in poverty alleviation, especially in villages. IPMI has chosen the village as a research focus because according to BPS, the number of people living in villages for 5 years period (2010-2015) has decreased from 54% to 46%. If this trend continues, the villages will have a shortage of productive labor and as a result the national food supply will be in a critical situation, dependent as it is on the rural areas.

IPMI is keen to develop village-based poverty alleviation models based on the premise that villages has enough resources to generate economic activity but that those resources are not managed properly. Such models can help to reduce poverty, stop urbanization, and persuade productive labor to return to the village.

With its experience as an educational management institution, IPMI will introduce a villagebased management approach to economic development. In Japan, the village economic development has used the concept of &quot;one village one product (OVOP)&quot; developed since 1979 by Morihiko Hiramatsu (www.wikipedia.org). This concept has also been tested in several villages in Indonesia, but IPMI has chosen a different approach of “One Village One Corporate (OVOC)”, or SADASA (Satu Desa Satu Usaha). Rural economic activity (at the village level) will be managed by corporate practices with all resources managed by a corporate established and owned by the community.